There are so many steps you can take to have healthy, glowing skin. And, the great news is so much of it doesn’t actually involve fancy products or procedures! Let’s dive into my top tips for skin health.
Skin Health 101
The skin is the body’s largest organ is and is made of water, protein, fats and minerals.
There are three layers of tissue that make up the skin which are the epidermis, dermis and hypodermis.
The epidermis is the top layer and continually makes new skin cells. You actually have new skin every 30 days.
The dermis is the middle layer has collagen and elastin which makes the skin strong and flexible. This layer also makes oil to keep your skin smooth and soft, it produces sweat, supplies blood, etc.
The bottom layer is the hypodermic which is the fatty layer. It has connective tissue, contains fat to cushion your muscles and bones, helps regulate body temp, etc.
Skin health is mostly an inside-out process
The skin is the largest organ, so the health of your cells will determine just how healthy your skin is.
It looks a bit like this: Your body is made of cells —> those cells make up the tissues of the body —> those tissues make up the organs of the body.
So, if you take care of your body and give it the nourishment it needs, then your cells will be healthier which means your skin will be healthier!
This doesn’t mean that good skincare products can’t make a difference, but I’d argue that about 90% of how your skin looks is a reflection of what’s going on on the inside.
Here are two pictures of me 13 years apart. On the left, I was struggling with Hashimoto’s disease, chronic hives, gut issues, chronic stress, etc. As I walked through the healing process, I slowly saw my wrinkles fill back in and the overall health of my skin improve. It’s pretty amazing what the body can do when it’s given the proper tools!
Here are My Top 11 Tips for Healthy Skin:
1. Avoid processed foods and eat a nutrient-dense diet.
The foods you eat give your cells the nourishment your body needs to make healthy tissue and healthy skin. So, sticking with real, whole foods, is a fabulous way to support healthy, glowing skin.
Here’s a short list of foods I recommend eating for healthy skin:
Pastured meats
Fatty fish and wild seafood
Eggs
Raw or cultured dairy
Healthy saturated fats such as butter, ghee, lard, tallow and duck fat
Unprocessed oils such as coconut oil and extra-virgin olive oil
Vegetables and fruits
Soaked or sprouted nuts, seeds, legumes, lentils and grain
Homemade broth and stock
Celtic sea salt and other unprocessed herbs and spices
Cultured and fermented foods such as kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, etc.
Filtered water
Here’s more info on what a nutrient dense diet looks like.
2. Support your liver.
When your liver isn’t properly supported it will be unable to eliminate toxins well. This means that other organs such as your skin have to pick up the slack and help remove the toxins from the body. This can result in things such as acne, dry skin, and itchiness.
Studies have shown that aging is associated with things such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease, hepatitis C, and liver transplantation.
Here are some skin symptoms that can show your liver needs support:
Dry skin
Itchiness
Skin peeling on the bottom of the feet
Liver spots on the face and tops of the hands
Circles under the eyes
Grey around the eyes or on the eyelids
“11’s” in-between the eyes
Here are some basic steps to support your liver for healthy skin:
- Drinking 3-4 ounces of beet kvass on an empty stomach each morning
- Castor oil packs over the liver 3-4x a week for 45 minutes
- Good quality and quantity of sleep (the liver does a LOT of work when you are sleeping, so good sleep is essential for healthy skin)
- Movement or exercise daily
Here’s more info about how to support your liver and also my favorite liver support supplements that I use at my practice.
3. Keep your blood sugar balanced.
The frequency of glucose spikes can influence the rate at which the skin ages. Each spike can accelerate a process called glycation which can lead to premature aging. Glycation targets collagen which is a protein that is responsive for maintaining skin elasticity.
So, imbalanced blood sugar, type 2 diabetes, and insulin resistance can all create inflammation which can age the skin. Studies have shown that high serum glucose levels are associated with a higher perceived age and aging of the skin.
When a client has made progress in balancing their blood sugar, I can see their skin change for the better overtime. They slowly look more youthful and wrinkles begin to fill back in. It’s so fun to see the changes overtime!
Here are are few of my top tips to keep your blood sugar balanced for younger-looking skin:
- Pull back on sugars and processed foods. Aim for 30 grams or less per day of sugars. This includes sugars from things like honey, fruits and maple syrup as well as the more obvious granulated sugar, cane sugar or coconut sugar. This does not include carbohydrates from healthy sources such as vegetables, soaked legumes and lentils, raw or cultured dairy, soaked or sprouted grains, etc.
- Don’t eat naked carbs. An easy way to keep your blood sugar levels from spiking (and subsequently crashing!) is to pair your carbs or sugars with healthy fats and proteins. The fats or proteins will help slow down the digestion of your carbs and sugars.
- Don’t do intermittent fasting, especially if you have hormone imbalance, thyroid disease, insomnia, anxiety, etc and you’re a woman. Instead, focus on a 12-hour “fast” from dinner to breakfast.In my experience as a practitioner, I’ve seen intermittent fasting do more harm than good when it comes to regulating blood sugar levels, especially for women. Most studies showing the benefits of intermittent fasting were actually done on men.Intermittent fasting, particularly for women, can be perceived by the body as a stressor. It can lead to elevated cortisol, hormone imbalances, and blood sugar dysregulation.
- Try a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar before meals or sprinkle cinnamon on your food.Consumption of apple cider vinegar before a meal was shown to reduce post-meal blood sugar rise by as much as half. Researchers believe the acetic acid in the vinegar slows down the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar in the bloodstream.
For more detailed information on how to balance your blood sugar naturally, check out this article.
4. Optimize your gut health.
The gut microbiome is associated with various skin issues such as acne, dermatitis, psoriasis, rosacea, skin cancer, etc.
If you have autoimmunity or have been diagnosed with a gut issue, it’s a great idea to work on healing your gut for the overall health of the body and to improve the health of your skin.
Here are my top 12 ways to heal the gut naturally.
5. Keep your vitamin D levels in check.
Vitamin D is needed for good skin health including regulating apoptosis (which helps protect against cancer) and inflammation. Low vitamin D has been associated with premature skin aging, psoriasis, dermatitis, etc.
Here are some ways to keep D levels in check:
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- Eat vitamin A, D, E and K rich foods such as: butter, ghee, pastured meats, raw or cultured dairy and eggs.
- Take cod liver oil daily.
- Get sunshine exposure to the skin daily (you can get sunlight on the skin even if it’s cloudy outside).
- Keep your stress in check. Elevated cortisol lowers vitamin D.
6. Find ways to lower your stressors or to better handle the stress in your life.
When the body is stressed it produces the stress hormone cortisol. Chronic elevated cortisol can break down the skin’s collagen and elastin and form wrinkles.
Crazy enough, elevated cortisol can also lower vitamin D, cause blood sugar imbalance, nutrient deficiencies, and lead to poor gut and liver health. So, if you want just one thing to focus on to help with the entire list above, I encourage you to take steps to balance your cortisol levels.
Here are my top tips to balance your cortisol levels.
7. Don’t wear daily sunscreen on your face.
So many sunscreens on the market contain chemicals that will damage and age the skin. Also, when you wear daily sunscreen, you are literally blocking vitamin D synthesis in the skin. Of course, if you’re headed to the beach, or going to be outside for long periods of time, wear an all-natural sunscreen, but it’s not something that is needed daily.
Here’s additional info about sunlight and melanoma.
8. Only use completely non-toxic products on your face.
Synthetic chemicals and other man-made ingredients aren’t going to nourish your face like all-natural products can. Also, so many of them contain ingredients that can disrupt hormone balance, cause irritation, and even skin cancer and promote agin!
My very favorite brand that I use is Primally Pure. All of their products are completely non-toxic and have made such a huge difference in my skin! You can use the code ORGANIC10 to save 10%.
9. Switch from soap to an oil cleanser.
Washing your face with soap strips the skin of it’s natural oils and also can disrupt the balance of your skin microbiome. Instead, I highly recommend switching to an oil cleanser. I personally use Primally Pure oil cleanser and have found it to be a game-changer! You can use the code ORGANIC10 to save 10%.
10. Instead of topical retinol, eat retinol-rich foods and use Bakuchiol topically.
Retinol can cause damage to the skin over time, so instead, a great way to nourish the skin with retinol is to eat retinol-rich foods such as eggs, butter, pastured meats, raw or cultured dairy and fatty fish.
Bakuchiol comes from the Babchi plant and helps accelerate cell renewal, improves skin texture and reduces photo damage.
I use this plumping balm daily which is made of tallow, emu oil, carrot seed oil and bakuchiol. And, it smells amazing!!
11. For a topical facial treatment, try Gua Sha or facial cupping.
Facial Gua Sha is an ancient healing technique within Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that visibly rejuvenates the skin through light pulling + lifting massage motions using a smooth gemstone tool. It can help with lymphatic drainage, calming the nervous system, relieving muscle tension + tightness, clearing congestion + buildup, and increasing the flow of oxygen and vital nutrients to the skin.
Facial cupping is the act of moving a small suction cup across the face in a particular pattern to encourage blood flow, lymphatic drainage, and overall skin health. It’s very easy to use and to do yourself at home! This is the one I personally use.
12. To help increase collagen production and clear skin, try red light therapy.
Research shows that red light therapy can smooth your skin and help with wrinkles. RLT also helps with acne scars, burns and signs of UV sun damage.
I personally use the SaunaSpace near-infrared light daily on my face. You can use the code ORGANIC to save 10%.
